Stolen Child WIP

[Ross Smith]

Just looking at this image and what I remember of Fay's dress, I believe the clothes are different enough to keep people from confusing the two -- especially if the color schemes are different.

 

All the same, if you intend to do a re-design, you can easily avoid great similarities.

 

I'm glad to hear you're putting more time into this project. It's always hard, scraping together enough time to dedicate to work like this, but it's always a pleasure to see your updates. Nice image, also. You're really pushing the envelope on toon rendering in Hash.

[entity]

You are an inspiration... and you draw so well! You are certainly meeting your challenge! I've redesigned a few characters clothes... no sweat at this stage I am at though.

Fay, I don't think will have the same look as the mother in any way... one is ethereal tones... the other based on human tones.

[smudge]

Weekly update:

 

Thanks for the feedback, Ross Smith & entity. It’s nice to know I’m not just talking to myself here. I’d probably continue the WIP even if I were, though. It’s turned into a great way to make sure I continue progress on the short instead of it being shoved onto the backburner of ‘projects I’d like to finish someday’.

 

Been working on the 'Mother'. Got her clothes redesign done and colored. I think she’s going to work now.

 

 

Also went in and did a final full figure model render of the completed 'Father' and his final walk cycle (with knife).

 

 

Father Walk cycle (final)

MPEG1, 632kb

 

Now, I'm onto modeling the 'Mother'. Started by using the 'Son' as the building block. With how often I'm taking and remolding him, I'm seriously considering after finishing this project, going in and creating generic male and female models to use as starting points for the next project.

 

Poor kid, first I beef him and have him grow a beard, now it's a sex change....

[Flog]

Great work as always.

 

I was wondering if you got my PM ?

[smudge]

Yup! Just sent you the reply, Flog.

[smudge]

Posting early since I'm going to Washington (Tacoma) for a con over the weekend. Upshot: Breakfast in Tacoma tomorrow (Thursday) morning! Down Shot: I fly out at 6 in the F***** morning. I am not a morning person....

 

Spent all of this week panicking getting stuff ready for the con and my docket cleared for sending stuff to my publisher. As such, I really haven't done anything on the short. Bad Smudge! No cookie!

 

Did have the computer running on a render of a test for Artbox's Sky Caste lighting system. I had it rendering while I was busy doing other things. Good results straight off the bat, but need to run more testing to see if it's really something I can use (but not for this project).

DesertRose_Strut_SkyDome01_small_.mpg

[entity]

OMG!!!! Great work... animation has LOTS of character! And the timing is also great.

Great character design+ great animation= PIXAR!

[smudge]

Thanks for the complement, Entity.

 

Personally, I think I've got a long ways of going before I can match this, though...

 

Pixar's new short preview

[smudge]

Early update (since I'm back from Washington).

 

Worked on the ‘Mother’ a lot today. Got all of her basic model done. Now it's onto the fine tweaks to smooth her out for toon rendering and such.

 

Also re-rendered the Sky Caste test with the model's textures on. Had to add a secondary light source to fill some of the shadows. With out it, she was rendering too dark to really see properly, her face was almost completely black. But the Sky Caste helped a lot. Will probably throw money at ArtBox after I finish with this project and start ramping up for my next. (I like to think ahead).

 

Enough experimenting for me, though. I need to get back on track....

...

....

......Phooey modeling! I NEED to animate! Arrg!

DesertRose_Strut_SkyDome03_small_.mpg

[entity]

I'm in AWE! Lovely! Now you went and made me feel lazy. You did a lot of work there.

[modernhorse]

Great great work. So much detail in your animation. In particular the feet impressed me. Forgive me, I haven't read the whole thread but, will the entire short be toon rendered?

 

Doug

[smudge]

(Posting while waiting for Hash to finish rendering animation....)

 

Now you went and made me feel lazy. You did a lot of work there.

 

Not as much as you think. Hash makes it way too eady to reuse old models and animations. The Sky Caste animation and model was something I did earlier and threw them together to test the lighting system. I’m very pleased with the results.

 

Forgive me, I haven't read the whole thread but, will the entire short be toon rendered?

 

The Stolen Child will be toon rendered. I was just taking a moment to test lighting for my next project when, not if, I get this short done. I have a tendency of piggy backing my projects so as soon as I finish one, I can jump right into the next.

 

Arrg! Too many things to do and not enough time to do them all!

[ypoissant]

I've been following your project for some weeks now and I must say your are doing a fabulous job. I admire your persistance, your drawing skills and your imagination. And your little animation test is awesome. There is so much character in it.

[smudge]

Wow -- A complement from ypoissant. I've been blessed!

 

Sorry I didn't post Friday. Had a 24-hour blackout in my area. Apparently, there was some roadwork down the street and some bozo of a contractor took out the main power line for the entire city. Just as I was saving too. =Grr!=

 

I'll post as soon as recreate what was lost.

[ypoissant]

Well... Let me add some more.

 

I like the animation style and look you've developed with your stolen child project. The fact that you are not going for the hyper-realistic look nor for the traditional toon-anime look. You've found a very personal style that matches perfectly with your drawings. It is unique, innovative and creative. With a style that personalized, your animation can be recognized immediately from the crowd just like a signature.

 

I read your latest episode on your web site. I liked that you know how to use the camera POV to the story advantage and the fact that you can draw your characters on non-stereotyped framing, positions, attitudes and expressions. I can appreciate your narrative skills too and the way you ended the episode. I wanted to read more.

 

Then I watched your Ebin & May "Something to remember" theater episode. That is cute. And then I whent to kiss my wife. Thanks.

 

I hope that clip can be found on A:M films.

[zandoriastudios]

Smudge,

I just stumbled onto this thread, and finished reading it and looking at all the in progress stuff--it is simply amazing!! You are a wonderful artist and it is really inspiring to see you bring your vision to life in A:M.

Thank you for sharing!

[shaunf]

Beautiful work Christina! Your attention to detail is wondeful! I'm really looking forward to seeing more of your project!

[Sharky]

Hi Cristina!

Nice work! I like your character's movement!

Keep it up!

 

Regards,

 

Sharky

[smudge]

Wow! Thanks Guys!

 

I read your latest episode on your web site. .... I wanted to read more.

 

That's not a problem. Next episodes are posted monthly, and new episodes are still being printed. Plus my publisher and I have been working on a Graphic Novel deal for a whilw now. It's just a matter of getting "t"'s crossed and "i"'s dotted.

 

I hope that clip can be found on A:M films.

 

Ebin & May on A:MFlims

 

I've had a lot of requests for the next episode of the animation, but I've been rather leery of doing more since after episode two, the plot kicks in then I'd be committed to the next 25+ episodes. That's a little too large of a project for me to choke down at the moment, especially if I'm not drawing a pay-check from it.

 

Anyway, back to Stolen Child....

 

Been animating for the past few days on BG11, a section of the chorus when the view (and 'Son') first meet Fay. Got her main body blocked in, still need to add facial animation (like you'll really be able to see them on anything smaller than a projection screen ). Once she's all done, I'm gonna be adding the two sprites (one will be resting on her left hand), and the 'Son' coming in from stage left.

 

...Shadows not being my friend....

BG11_small_.mov

[SHADOWMASTER]

Where's the soundtrack to "BG11_small_.mov" from? Just wondering, sounds like a cool tune. I wanna hear the rest of it.

 

Ebin & May on A:MFlims

*sniff*

*ahem*

Uhm, great job on animation. I especially like the emotion put into the ears. And I love the music.

You are now my animation idol.

Can't wait to see more of your work.

[smudge]

Where's the soundtrack to "BG11_small_.mov" from?

 

The song, "Stolen Child" is off Heather Alexander's first album, Wanderlust.

[starwarsguy]

nice animation, i like how it looks so cartoony

[smudge]

(Trying to get back into the habit of posting of Fridays....)

 

Mostly animating this week.

 

Got BG11 halfway done. Fay's in, one of the sprites is in, just need to and the 'Son' and the other sprite, then I can more on to something else. I still need to go back in and add the Will 'O Wisp once I get that model finalized. Should also go in a re-tweak the background image matt since it's not quite lined up correctly (hard to see in a small version, but I notice it really badly at full screen).

 

Back to work for me!

BG11_Large_.mov

[Flog]

beautiful, just beautiful, I would love to combine powers with you!!!!

 

Please please tutorial, tutorial on the grass!!! and bushes. Are they hand painted or are they 3d models with hand painted textures.

 

WOW !!!! WOW!!!

[smudge]

Please please tutorial, tutorial on the grass!!! and bushes. Are they hand painted or are they 3d models with hand painted textures.

 

'Fraid all of the backgrounds are paintings (drawings actually), traditionally inked, scanned, then painted in Photoshop.

 

The Characters are toon rendered in Hash with an Alpha Channel, Ray-traced Shadows rendered separately with Alpha Channel, then all the layers are compiled in Premiere including any cut out mats (like the bush in front of Fay's dress). It's pretty much the same sort of techniques used to match animation in with live action except I'm drawing the backgrounds instead of filming them.

 

Hope this helps.

[smudge]

Yeah, I know I'm posting a day early, but things look pretty busy for tomorrow (Friday) and I don't know when I'm gonna be able to post again until next week.

 

Paused on animation as I'm waiting for another model to get completed (the 'Son's walking staff).

 

Finished modeling and rigging the 'Mom'. Actually, she's pretty much done except for one texture map. And that'll get finished as soon as I find were my bloody book on Celtic knot work went too. =Grr!= Just when I need something, it goes Elvis on me! Double =Grr!=

 

Current model list now looks like:

 

Fay -- DONE

Son -- DONE

Father -- DONE

Mother -- DONE

Sprite 1 -- DONE

Sprite 2 -- DONE

Will O Wisp -- DONE <--Start Over

Buttery Spirit 1 -- Not Started

Buttery Spirit 2 -- Not Started

Grey Herrin -- Not Started

Highlander Cattle -- Not Started

Highlander Calf -- Not Started

Mouse 1 -- Not Started

Mouse 2 -- Not Started

Trout -- Not Started

Chair -- Not Started

Table -- Not Started

Stine -- Not Started

Dirk -- DONE

Staff -- Not Started

 

I guess it's onto the buttery spirits....

MotherWalk_small_.mpg

[Zaryin]

This is turning out great. Your models are beautiful, and I'm sure the finished story will be fantastic. Great job.

[hypnomike]

Hi Christina!

 

Just stumbled across this thread so I've read it right through.

 

It gives a beginner like myself a fascinating insight on how a project evolves.

 

The images are beautiful, I will follow your project's progress with interest.

 

Thanks for allowing us to follow your work.

 

Best Wishes

 

Mike

[Rodney]

Christina,

My apologies... I just had to experiment with your background. I really couldn't resist. I had to see those clouds move! I think I should have made them blown the other direction keep the scene balanced though. My scene is too short too... only 4 frames.

 

 

I'm not sure you'll have the time to do such things and/or if it's in keeping with your style but I think you should try to exploit A:M's multiplane capabilities in the backgrounds where possible.

 

All this... for what it's worth.

Love your work. Keep those dailies/weeklies going!

-Rodney

 

*Note: The movement isn't meant to be realistic... just to demonstrate the movement of the separate planes.

[starwarsguy]

rodney, what did you use to make that animation? if it was in A:M, how? i need a program for my animatic.

[Rodney]

Kyle you can do the multiplane scenery shifting in A:M you just need to plan it out.

I used CorelPaint to mask off the areas of Christina's drawing so that they could be on separate levels of the scene. This was necessary because I only had the original image she posted to work from.

 

The process (of masking) can be done in A:M as well.

Think of creating a model/series of patches to block parts of an image from being seen by the camera. If you choose a solid but unused color it'll turn transparent when brought back into A:M for compositing.

 

This is the one time (and probably only time) where you'll find me suggesting the use of key color to mask out images in A:M.

 

If you have access to Photoshop or another App with masking/alpha channel cababilities that works great too.

 

If a project is planned with this in mind it's a lot easier as you'll no doubt build the levels in A:M with alpha channels built in. All you need to do then is import the images back in and place them where you need them.

 

Christina's style lends itself to the technique easily and produces great results!

 

Best,

Rodney

[starwarsguy]

i have photoshop, but i have a question, how do i use cookiecutter? never understood that

[Paul Forwood]

First make sure that you save your images as 32bit Targas or you will lose the transparency,(alpha channel).

 

Apply the decal to your model.

 

You can set your Decal's Image Type to Cookie-Cut once you have applied the decal.

 

Go Decals/Decal name/Images then click on the triangle to expose the image properties, Fron there you can select the type from a drop-down menu.

 

Good luck.

 

Paul Forwood

[smudge]

I'm not sure you'll have the time to do such things and/or if it's in keeping with your style but I think you should try to exploit A:M's multiplane capabilities in the backgrounds where possible.

 

Heh, heh. You're not actually that far off, Rodney.

 

There are going to be several shots were the background is in motion too. I'm just waiting to get the characters and important actions in first before deciding on what's moving and what's not. The reason why I'm waiting is that there are going to be multiple shots on the screen at the same time with movement. I want to carefully lead the views eye around the screen but not have the entire screen vibrate with motion so that you can't tell what's going on. Almost the entire short is done in pantomime and that would be deadly.

 

For the most part, movement like that I find easier to control via Premiere. We’ll wait and see at this point though.

 

Got the Mother's last texture map in. Will post the final render later.

 

In other ‘Stolen Child’ news--

Still waiting to here back from the 'Society of Authors' on the EU rights for the Poem. =Bleh!= Clearance. But it's got to be done if I want to send the film out overseas for festivals there.

 

Back to work for me!

 

Edit--

Got the 'Mother' Final model rendered.

Edited October 19, 2004 by smudge

[smudge]

Been working and not working all at the same time...=Grr!=

 

Was suppose to be working on the ‘Buttery Spirits’, but ended up spending all week on texturing (and re-texturing) the 'Son's Staff. A simple model that was suppose to only take a couple of hours max ended up taking all week because I couldn't come up with a texture map I liked (or didn't moray). Grump!

 

I did, however, get the final design of the ‘Buttery Spirits’ down. Yeah! I guess I can spend all next week modeling them instead.

 

 

Also went in a mucked a little with the 'Son' walk cycle to include his new staff.

 

More to come!

SonWalkStaffSmall.mpg

[fae_alba]

Hey Smudge, you mentioned earlier that this story is based on a Celtic tale. May I ask which one. I've studied a lot of the auld tales from Ireland and Scotland and was wondering on how arrived at the characters (ie the looks of Sprites).

 

I've tried to put a face to some of the Celtic lore characters like kelpie, sith (pro. she-he) red caps etc.

 

Just curious.

[hypnomike]

Hi Christina!

 

It's very interesting following your project.

 

Do you set yourself targets to complete various stages or do you prefer to complete each part in however long it takes?

 

I know targets can get you focused but not meeting the can be very frustrating.

 

Keep up the good work.

[smudge]

Ah, Hello fae_alba! I was wondering if you'd find this thread. Welcome!

 

you mentioned earlier that this story is based on a Celtic tale. May I ask which one.

 

It's based on WB Yeates' Poem the Stolen Child. Been having an interesting time of it since when I started the project I was under the impression that the poem was public domain. Well, it is, sort of. In my research (it helps to be thorough), I discovered it was public domain in North America but not in the EU. Not until 2010, anyway. So I'm currently talking with the current copyright holders, The Society of Authors, to try and acquire the International rights for my short.

 

was wondering on how arrived at the characters (ie the looks of Sprites)

 

Fay, of course, is based off the Fae (Fairy folk/grey-folk). Her main variations away from tradition is that I swung her color palette into the blues instead of grays and gave her rather Record of Lodoss War -- Deedlit like ears. Grays would have really flattened out the color palette of the film and I didn't want her to suddenly turn into a 'little gray man' visually. And I wanted the viewer to be able to instantly recognize that she was *not* human.

 

The sprites are more of an English Fairy-Thing. But since I didn't want them to be seen in the same light as 'Fay', I turned them a little more insect-like.

 

The art style of the film as a whole is more of a loose and simplified interpretation of Jim Fitzpatrick’s work (warning, nudity).

 

Do you set yourself targets to complete various stages or do you prefer to complete each part in however long it takes?

 

I do have very loose targets set, but seeing as I've already slipped several I'm not too anal about them. The fact that I have everything storyboarded out helps a lot. I know exactly what I need to reach my end goal. Now it's a matter of walking the path that I've laid out before me. My current target is to try and have the first act animated by the end of January. Since I'm almost at the end of my major model building for the First Act, I don't see too many difficulties in hitting close to that goal.

[fae_alba]

I'm not familiar with the poem. I suppose I have to keep reminding myself that when one says "celtic" it encompases Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. I lean more to Scotland where mythical characters are markedly less friendlt than in other areas. There are no gossomar winged pixies in the Highlands.

 

I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product, though. Sounds like your well on the way to a success.

[jesshmusic]

Looks good so far. the Staff walk cycle looks really nice. Can't wait to see more.

[smudge]

I'm not familiar with the poem. I suppose I have to keep reminding myself that when one says "celtic" it encompases Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.

 

The historic Celts were bloody everywhere and touched a lot of different cultures throughout time. It's why you get a lot of myth-crossovers. They were pushed around a lot during the age of migrations by the Franks and the Romans to eventually settle in Ireland, Scotland and Whales (after being pushed out of Europe). Then again, everyone was pushing everyone else around during that time. Talk about rude neighbors.

 

WB Yeates was an Irish poet in the 1800's and is created with reviving a lot of the traditional fairy-tales and folklore of his homeland. The Stolen Child is just one of his works.

 

Sorry for posting a day early, but I'm off to Yaoi-Con tomorrow to help my publisher, Radio Comix, at their table. If you’re at the show (probably not, due to subject matter) stop by and say “hi!”

 

Anyhow -- Got the basic model for the first Buttery Spirit done. Got his texture templates laid out too. Now it's on to finishing his rig and painting his texture maps. =WEEE!=

(Dividing this up into two posts...)

ButterySpirit01small.mpg

[smudge]

And here is a test render of the B.Spirit with a background.

 

Because these little guys are suppose to invisible, I'm handling them differently than any of the other characters. Their lines are going to be a soft blue (softer than the test blue I used) and their main bodies transparent. I'm gonna have to make two passes just to render these guys properly. But I think the effect is going to be worth it.

ButterySpirit01_TransparentTestSmall.mpg

[starwarsguy]

Great work. It looks like it'll be a really cool effect.

[Rodney]

Neat! I love those 360 turnarounds... and you just presented it in a really neat way.

 

It's one of the first times where I've seen a 360 turnaround really serve mutliple purposes with such simplicity. You've hit a bunch of them; background test, spline test, transparency test... Did I miss anything?

 

Hard to see detail but it looks like you really did an awesome job modeling and keeping the splines to a minimum.

 

Amazing stuff.

More Please!

[hypnomike]

Great effect!

 

It looks like the character is made of jellyfish.

[smudge]

Thanks for all the kind words guys!

 

Posting early since I've gotten everything I wanted to do this week done. Shock!

 

Here's the final textured model of 'Buttery Spirit 01'. Just need to touch up his rigging and it's on to his brother, 'Buttery Spirit 02'.

ButterySpirit01TextureSmall.mpg

[smudge]

And here's what the final render version of the ‘Buttery Spirit’ is going to be like.

 

Edit!

..Ack! Grabed the wrong file....

ButterySpirit01_TransparentTest2Small.mpg

Edited November 5, 2004 by smudge

[starwarsguy]

Neat effect! Keep up all your hard work on this project! Best of luck!

[hypnomike]

Looks even better, great job making your character appear invisible yet still be seen by the viewer.

[smudge]

great job making your character appear invisible yet still be seen by the viewer.

 

yeah! It reads to the viewer correctly! Yippie!!